In microscopy, the objects observed, for example during examination of samples for purposes of manufacturing quality control or medical analysis, are typically of a size exceeding that of the field of view of the microscope objective used. It is therefore common practice in microscopy to first find the sample region to be examined (“region of interest”) at low magnification and position it in the center of the field of view. Then, the magnification is increased in order for details in the respective region to be examined, measured, documented or, in particular, subjected to image processing for feature extraction. In order to find further such sample regions, it is necessary to reduce the magnification again.
For the purposes mentioned, conventional microscopes are provided with, for example, manual cross-stages and/or rotary stages and/or devices for magnification adjustment, such as objective turrets or zoom systems, or other motorized devices of this kind.
The aforementioned steps turn out to be complex and not very intuitive, especially when it comes to routine examination, because the adjustment processes mentioned do not directly correspond to the natural viewing of objects.
For routine microscopy, automated microscope systems, such as described, for example, in DE 200 13 359 U1, are provided with control and power supply means in an external unit.
External units for entering operating and control commands for observation devices are also described, for example, in EP 1 533 643 A1. Such units may, for example, be in the form of a screen, such as a touch screen, as a means for displaying setting values and/or an object being viewed or a process sequence.
Moreover, documents WO 96/18924 A1 and JP 07244243 A, inter alia, describe touch screens for controlling microscopes. In an approach such as the one proposed in the JP 07244243 A the image display area is reduced because of the size of the control elements provided, which are always visible on the touch screen.
However, the control units for microscopes and the associated methods known from the prior art are suitable only to a very limited extent for the aforementioned tasks and do not allow samples to be examined in an efficient, intuitive and cost-effective manner.
Therefore, there continues to be a need for methods for controlling the operation of microscopes that overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.